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High humidity

05-10-2007, 10:26 PM

So, this forum turned out to be a veritable plethora of information. It's great. Question: I'm building a linen/medicine cabinet about 5-1/2 ft tall. This is a small bathroom that contends with high humidity at shower time. Will a quality plywood (3/4 Alder or Cherry) hold up/not delaminate in this environment and also the edge banding I would need to do. Or, should I just make it out of solid wood? Thanks for all your replies

So, this forum turned out to be a veritable plethora of information. It's great. Question: I'm building a linen/medicine cabinet about 5-1/2 ft tall. This is a small bathroom that contends with high humidity at shower time. Will a quality plywood (3/4 Alder or Cherry) hold up/not delaminate in this environment and also the edge banding I would need to do. Or, should I just make it out of solid wood? Thanks for all your replies

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If moisture can't get at it, it should last, but its all in the finish. Kilz sucks, 1 2 3 primer, now this stuff works. Wood does not like moisture, everybody knows that, so why not use a man made product that will last, or put in a fan. Most of the time a fan is not an option, right. So the owner will put in wood w/steel nails, then paint everything. Edge banding forget it. You can always leave your bathroom door open, that way the plywood will last a little longer. My suggestion, man made products. You will also help out with environmental control. If your interested we can talk about what products later. No, I'm not an environmentalist, but the products do work.

Great Link for a Construction Owner/Tradesmen, and just say Garager sent you....

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Kilz does suck. It sucks the air right out of our lungs. I'll have to check out 123 primer to see if they sell it in "Insanityville" USA. Anymore the codes only want NO V.O.C. paint. It's soon going to be nothing but ground up chauk and water, about like barn wash.

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Thanks for the link. For years before all the EPA codes Zinsser was very highly regarded. Maybe they now have a low VOC primer that I can buy. The KILZ stuff is nasty and doesn't work out well at all. I'll keep my eyes open for it or might look over the line where things aren't quite as crazy as here in Insanityville.

UpdateL I just downloaded and printed the technical info on 1-2-3 primer from their web site. I'll take that along with me paint stores.

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I think you may have hit it right when you asked about building out of solid wood. That is the way I would go. If you decide to go with plywood it might be better if you made your own edgebanding out of solid wood and glued it on instead of the iron on type. I have seen matched pairs of edgebanding router bits for about $40.00. I think it was MLCS but I am not sure. And, as everyone else has said, sealing is of primary importantance.

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How were you going to assemble it? What kind of joints were were planning to do? What were your plans for finishing the cabinet. Plywood is more stable than solid wood but don't do edge banding. Glue with biscuits a 2x strip of wood on the edge with gorilla glue. Prior to working with the wood, store it in the bathroom if possible for about a month to acclimate the wood to the humidity level.

Garager mentioned it briefly but upgrading your exhaust fan might be the answer. High humidity does damage to other things than just a custom made cabinet.